The Hope for America
Psalm 33
Rev. Juvenal Cervantes
Saint John’s United Church of Christ, Greeley, Colorado
July 2, 2023
Psalm 33:
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous.
Praise befits the upright.
2 Praise the Lord with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings.
3 Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
4 For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
5 He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made
and all their host by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;
he put the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him,
9 for he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the thoughts of his heart to all generations.
12 Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.
13 The Lord looks down from heaven;
he sees all humankind.
14 From where he sits enthroned he watches
all the inhabitants of the earth—
15 he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
16 A king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
17 The war horse is a vain hope for victory,
and by its great might it cannot save.
18 Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
19 to deliver their soul from death
and to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
he is our help and shield.
21 Our heart is glad in him
because we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
An article in Time magazine entitled “Why the World is on the Brink of Great Disorder” caught my attention this week.
Ray Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund firm with $124 billion under management. Forbes estimates his personal net worth at $19.1 billion. He has achieved such success by studying events and cycles across history. I considered his cultural analysis for reasons that transcend their financial implications.
In his writing, Dalio, identifies the “Five Big Forces” that compose what he calls the “Big Cycle that produces big changes in the world order”:
1. Financial/economic forces
2. The domestic order force
3. The international world order force
4. Acts of nature
5. Technology
In each case, the US is experiencing transformation on a historic scale.
With regard to finances, “because of unsustainable debt growth, we are likely approaching a major inflection point that will change the financial order” such that “debt/financial conditions could worsen, perhaps very significantly, over the next eighteen months.”
Regarding domestic order, he believes “we are headed into a type of civil war over the next eighteen months” in which “populist extremes” are in conflict while “bipartisan moderates are for the most part quietly staying out of [the] fight.”
The international world order is witnessing a growing conflict between the US and China with important elections in Taiwan next year. In his view, “the odds of some form of a major conflict are dangerously high.”
Acts of nature include a generational pandemic, climate change, and an El Niño phase of the climate cycle.
With regard to technology, “there should be no doubt that generative AI and other technological advances have the potential to cause both massive productivity gains and massive destructions, depending on how they are used. The one thing that we can be sure of is that these changes will be greatly disruptive.”
What is the hope for America? What is the hope for our world? The Lord has called us to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Samaria, in Judea and to the ends of the world. Sometimes our focus is solely on our country and the media tells us what we need to know. For instance, the tragic story of the Titan Submersible dominated the news a couple of weeks ago and stories of this horrific event continue to captivate our attention, after all, people paid $250,000 to board a small vessel that would give them a tour of the Titanic wreckage, 12,500 feet deep in the North Atlantic. Other news during that time however were equally important but they were eclipsed by what we repeated watched on our television sets. A fishing boat ill-equipped to transport over 750 migrants, looking for a better life, from Libya to Italy capsized by the shores of Greece, killing most of the passengers. Other stories included, the Food and Drug Administration approved lab created meat for human consumption. We wonder how the multiple chemicals used to create this product will impact the human body.
When we hear news and ominous predictions it is easy to feel like powerless victims of forces beyond our understanding or control. Few of us are able to change the changes Dalio identifies. We are “catching, not pitching,” as someone commented. When we are living on “the brink of great disorder,” however, followers of Jesus can take heart from two related biblical facts.
One: Your Savior is the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16). Nothing we’ve discussed today surprises him. Rather, our Lord has a plan to redeem all he allows for his glory and our good (Romans 8:28).
Consequently, we can turn our fears to him by faith and experience that “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7) which can be our most powerful witness in turbulent times.
Two: You are living in this time of “great disorder” by God’s plan. He intended you to live today, not a century ago or a century from now (if the Lord tarries).
Consequently, he has a kingdom assignment for you, a way he wants to use your life and influence to make an eternal difference in our chaotic world (1 Peter 4:10). Author and actor Alexander Woollcott was right: “There’s no such thing in anyone’s life as an unimportant day.” Your faithfulness to God’s call today can change someone’s trajectory for eternity.
In addition to our celebration of life service and graveside service for Alma Banghart last Friday, I had to two back-to-back medical appointments and I regret not being with you and the Banghart family during the reception.
After visiting my pulmonologist, I asked, “Where do you do see yourself in five years?” The physician said, “I plan to be right here in the hospital caring for my patients such as yourself.” I continued, “What informs your passion to help individuals heal, religion, family, a crisis in your life?”
She responded, “Growing up, I attended church regularly with my grandmother. I am not part of a structured religion.” I persisted, “What is life giving to you?” Her answer: “Seeing the best in people.” I insisted, “And how do you nurture or cultivate that which is life-giving to you? What are you connected to or tied to? A tree whose roots are not grounded on soil will fade.” She said, “You’ve asked questions that require soul-searching and I have not invested time in that.”
After our conversation I wondered:
To whom do we express gratitude for how we’re wonderfully and beautifully made?
To whom do we take the burdens of life?
Whose promises guide our thinking and comfort our soul in the time of need?
To whom do we entrust our children or our loved ones in the time of loss and uncertainty?
I left that doctor’s office asking myself, “To what are you “tied” today?”
During the July 4th weekend, we sing “God Bless America.” How can God answer our prayer? How can he bless America? Psalm 33:12 is the answer: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” What does this statement mean? How can it apply to us? How can we be a nation God can bless?
The psalmist gives us the answer. First, recognize God as our maker, Psalm 33:1-12; and secondly trust him as our deliver, Psalm 33:13-22.
What is the hope for our nation? Jesus encouraged us in Matthew 7:24-26,
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Conclusion
The 33rd Psalm concludes with this prayer: “May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you” (v. 22). Would you make these words your intercession for America and for our world today?
“Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.”
President James Monroe, in his second Annual Message to Congress, dated November 16, 1818, made this statement:
“When we view the blessings with which our country has been favored, those which we now enjoy, and the means which we possess of handing them down unimpaired to our latest posterity, our attention is irresistibly drawn to the source from whence they flow. Let us then, unite in offering our most grateful acknowledgments for these blessings to the Divine Author of All Good.”
Let’s join him today.